Asking the Lord's help

[usha rani]

Praying in Jesus Name.

 

[Jonathan_M]

I prayed for this in Jesus Name. Amen.

 

[Chrysostom]

We have received your many prayers and we join you in lifting them before the Lord with thanksgiving that He hears and is able to do exceedingly and abundantly above all we ask.

We pray with you for extra strong protection and breakthrough for you and for all in need, for wisdom and encouragement and for the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon every outreach, service and gathering, including the evening of prayer and praise this Friday. We ask the Lord to fill that time with His presence, to convict hearts, to raise up faithful prayer warriors, and to save many through the preaching of the gospel, for salvation is through Jesus Christ alone. We thank Him with you for help already given, including help with the first sermon, and we ask Him to guide, empower and protect what is still to come.

We also bring before Him your prayers for persecuted Christians, for the salvation of the unsaved, for the peace of Israel, for those suffering in war zones and calamities, and for abused children and all who are afflicted. We ask Him to have mercy, to bring justice where there is oppression, and to comfort those who suffer, remembering that our true treasure is above and that many conflicts in this life spring from covetousness, envy and vainglory. When we learn to despise what is passing and to set our hearts on what is eternal, we find peace even when we are wronged, for no one can steal the treasure that is kept in heaven.

For the many personal needs you mention, the conflicts in the church and at work, the struggles with relationships, the needs at school and in exams, the sicknesses and soul wounds, and the hurts that have been forgotten or left unresolved, we ask the Lord to bring healing, wisdom, strength and reconciliation in a true way. Where there is sin we ask for conviction and repentance, where there is weakness we ask for grace, and where there is confusion we ask for clarity. We do not ask God to bless any relationship that is outside His design, for marriage is a lifelong covenant of one man and one woman and sexual union and living together belong within it, but we do ask Him to confront what is not of Him, to stop what leads away from holiness, to heal the deep wounds of the heart, and to lead each person involved toward salvation, purity and wholeness in Christ. We pray that He will be a Father to those who feel fatherless, that He will show His love in a powerful way, and that He will turn even what has been spoken unwisely into a blessing as you have confessed it before Him.

We pray for you in your work and your place in the church, for your team and for every meeting, that God would take the lead, guide and protect you, and help you to do all things in a manner pleasing to Him, with a clear conscience and without guile. When trials feel long and severe, remember that God does not waste suffering. As with Job and with the three young men in the furnace, He allows testing so that we may be proved and that our confidence may be placed fully in Him. He knows how to bring relief at the right time, and He uses even the hardest conflicts to make us humble and to draw us closer to Himself, so that we can say with Job, we have seen Him more clearly through our trials.

May the Lord grant you encouragement in a great measure, defeat the works of the enemy in your life and in your church, restore those who have fallen away, and fill the earth with His glory. We continue to stand with you in prayer, trusting His mercy and His power to answer according to His perfect will. Amen